Volunteer Opportunities

Thank you for your interest in volunteering in the YIVO Archives. Volunteers are integral to the work we do, and we’re thrilled to welcome volunteers back into our offices.

We are still taking COVID precautions and are asking that volunteers sign up for specific time slots.

Please see below for volunteer shifts for the various volunteer opportunities in the Archives and Library.

General Archives

Two General Archives shifts will be held each day from 8AM to 1PM and from 1PM to 6PM. You may register for up to two volunteer slots per week. If you would like to volunteer for an entire day, you can sign up for two consecutive shifts on a single day. You can sign up here: calendly.com/yivovolunteers.

The Archives has identified several priorities for this year that would benefit from volunteer assistance:

• Creating concise collection descriptions for newly accessioned collections in a variety of languages
• Creating a database of “small accessions” that are not large enough to warrant creating a separate record group number
• Taking reference images of collections using a document camera to create access copies for use online

At this time, these are the only projects volunteers may work on in the YIVO offices on 3S.

We will update these tasks as necessary, so please make sure to check this webpage and the volunteer newsletter for announcements. If you do not get the volunteer newsletter you can sign up to receive it here: yivo.convio.net/VolunteerNewsletter.

Sound Archives

The Sound Archives will welcome one volunteer each day. The Sound Archives volunteer shift will run from 11AM to 5PM. You can sign up here:  calendly.com/yivovolunteers.

Volunteer tasks will include the following:

• Digitizing cassette tapes
• Weeding and cataloging 78s and LPs

Library

Two Library shifts will be held each volunteer day from 8AM to 1PM and 1PM to 6PM. Each shift can accommodate one volunteer. You may sign up for two Library shifts per week. You can sign up here: calendly.com/yivovolunteers.

Volunteer tasks will include the following:

• Checking new donations against the catalog for duplicate books
• Weeding

HIAS Archives

At this time we will not be able to accommodate HIAS volunteers. We hope to welcome HIAS volunteers back for indexing during the summer months, after we have been able to retrieve a new shipment of HIAS case files from the warehouse.

After retrieval has taken place, YIVO will be open for HIAS volunteers on Mondays and Fridays. We will be able to have two volunteers during each of the two shifts per day, 8AM to 1PM and 1PM to 6PM.

Please check back periodically for HIAS volunteer updates or signup to receive the volunteer newsletter: yivo.convio.net/VolunteerNewsletter.